Here are the rules: Connect the A dot to the A dot, the B dot to the B dot, and the C dot to the C dot. Do not cross paths and do not draw outside the box. Good luck.
* I don't believe there are "math types" and "non-math types."
Thursday, May 29, 2008
Problem Solved
I was given this puzzle in a short course on making advanced mathematical ideas accessible to "non-math"* types last week. This puzzle appeared in a section on topology, which, coincidentally, is the topic I'm talking to 5 to 8-year-olds about in my own research. Anyway, Luna solved this puzzle in less than three minutes. Many of the participants in the short course, all of whom have masters degrees in mathematics, could not solve the problem in that amount of time.
Here are the rules: Connect the A dot to the A dot, the B dot to the B dot, and the C dot to the C dot. Do not cross paths and do not draw outside the box. Good luck.
* I don't believe there are "math types" and "non-math types."
Here are the rules: Connect the A dot to the A dot, the B dot to the B dot, and the C dot to the C dot. Do not cross paths and do not draw outside the box. Good luck.
* I don't believe there are "math types" and "non-math types."
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5 comments:
Yay, I'm proud; it took me less than one minute and I abandoned math after 12th-grade pre-calc.
Do you have to use straight lines?
Nope, no straight lines.
Woo hoo, 30 seconds here! And I don't even know what topology is. :p Congrats to Luna, this would completely stump others of her age! Brilliant.
Self-professed non-math type here (not that I'm proud of it). I have no clue.
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